An understanding of the concepts of time is very important to a child's independence and development. Most young children, especially those around the toddler age, do not comprehend concepts of time such as the passing of time or how to determine how much time is left before a certain activity will occur. Without understanding concepts of time and being able to read a clock, a child must rely on routine or instructions from a parent to know when they are supposed to sleep, when they get out of bed in the morning, when they should brush their teeth and so on. Teaching a child to learn these concepts can be quite a significant task even when a child is old enough to be able to read numbers on a digital or analog display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,325 (McGuire) discloses a children's sleeptime timer and clock device having a digital clock and/or an analog clock. The device also includes a display wheel having at least two two-dimensional illustrations which are alternately shown during sleep times and awake times. This device is intended to visually inform the child when they should be asleep and when they should be awake. It is in essence a visual alarm clock as the change from the sleep time illustration to the awake time illustration is done in a step-wise fashion and a child will not gain much of an understanding of the passage of time or how much time is left from using this device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,727, also to McGuire, discloses a similar device where the illustration is three-dimensional.
Various other children's clocks have been designed which incorporate synchronized analog and digital clocks (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,205 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,124). These clocks are intended for children who can already read digital time and do not assist in teaching a child concepts of time such as the passing of time or how to determine how much time is left before a certain activity will occur.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a children's clock having analog and/or digital displays and means for visually illustrating the continuous passage of time and the time left before an event occurs. The means for visually illustrating the continuous passage of time or the time left is an identifiable visual aid for the child which assists in teaching concepts of time.